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- A creative brief is a one to two page strategic document
used by in-house marketing teams, ad agencies,
and freelancers to clearly define the scope,
goals, and requirements of a creative deliverable.
It goes beyond the standard project brief
by capturing the vision, voice,
and target audience of a brand or campaign for writers,
designers, and video teams assigned to the project.
Free artistic reign may work fine
for personal creative projects,
but if you're delivering corporate campaigns
or client projects, clarity is everything.
If your creative team doesn't understand the who,
what, and why behind a project,
they're more likely to miss the mark.
That creates unnecessary stress and frustration,
and adds more time and money to the project,
and nobody wants that.
A clearly defined creative brief enables your team
to deliver high quality work with fewer rounds of revisions.
By aligning your client's goals and expectations
with the people doing the creative work,
delivering the desired outcome will be quicker and easier.
There's no single right format for writing a creative brief.
It really depends on the kind of projects
your creative team will work on,
and what you need to know to deliver quality work
effectively and efficiently.
For example, ad agencies may want to include
background info about the client and brand guidelines,
while internal teams already understand those things
and don't need those extra details
cluttering their creative briefs.
Let's take a look at some common elements
you may want to include in your creative brief.
If you're writing a creative brief
for an advertising agency or a freelance client,
you'll wanna capture a brief snapshot of the company,
so you and your team understand
the organization behind the project.
Give a quick summary of the company
and the products or services they offer,
and be sure to include a link to their website
so team members can dig deeper if they need to.
A general idea of the project helps set the stage
for what's to come.
Don't worry about going into a ton of detail here,
simply explain what the project is,
and why it was initiated in one or two sentences.
If this project will help
solve a particular business challenge,
this is a great place to capture that information.
Understanding project goals makes it easier for your team
to get creative right the first time,
so draw a clear picture of success in this section.
Here are a few questions you may want to answer.
What's the goal of the project?
What action do you want the audience to take?
And what key metrics will you use to measure success?
This is where the rubber meets the road
as far as what will actually be produced.
List the key project deliverables
and specify any size, format,
color, or quantity requirements.
Feel free to customize this section
based on the kind of creative work
that you'll be delivering.
For example, you may wanna break out specific options
for file format and dimensions
in a graphic design creative brief,
while word count might be the only spec
that matters to a copy job.
You don't have to flesh out your entire project plan
in this small space, that will come later.
Just focus on major milestones, deadlines,
and constraints your creative team needs to know right now.
This line item might not apply
if you manage projects for an in-house team,
but if you work for an agency or as a freelancer,
you better believe your clients have a budget.
Use this space to document the amount of money
and or hours that's been allocated to the project.
Depending on the size of your project team
and stakeholder group,
you may wanna spell out who's doing what
in your creative brief.
Think of this as a high level look at the people involved.
Here are a few questions to consider.
Who is the main point of contact
for the client on this project?
Who will serve as the project manager or lead?
Who will be involved on our team,
and what are their primary responsibilities?
And who are the key decision-makers?
Good creative doesn't happen in a vacuum.
That's why it's important to know who your audience is,
and how your project will make their life easier.
These two questions can help paint a clear picture
of the people this project will serve
for your creative team.
Who are you trying to reach with this project or campaign?
Make sure to include any relevant user personas
and or demographics.
And why will this project campaign
matter to your target audience?
Describe how it solves a pain point,
supports your audience's values,
or motivates them to make a change.
Understanding the competitive landscape
can help your content writers, graphic designers,
and video team find a unique hook
and create truly innovative work.
If your creative team doesn't have a firm grasp
of the competition,
use this section to answer questions like these.
Who are the key competitors in this space?
What sets your client or business apart
from the competition?
And how will this project or campaign stand out?
Tone speaks volumes and sets the direction
for any creative work,
so provide clear voice and style guidelines
as well as any specific messaging
that needs to be incorporated.
One simple way to communicate this information
is to list three adjectives
that describe the tone or personality
your client or stakeholder wants this project to convey.
Be sure to include any relevant source materials
the team will need to get started.
Feel free to share examples of past campaigns
or outside projects you'd like your team to use
as inspiration for this project.
Click the link in the description
to download our free creative brief template in Google Docs
to help you save time.
And feel free to customize it
to fit your creative project needs.
That's it for today.
I hope this video helped you think through
your next creative brief,
so you can deliver the best possible creative assets
to your client or team.
If you did find it helpful,
I'd love it if you could return the favor
and hit the like button.
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Thanks for watching, I'll see you next time.
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